Saturday, April 30, 2011

History will record this campaign on the part of the South as one dictated by the holiest and most sacred emotions. A true, noble and generous people, asking only to be let alone, performing all their obligations and duties to humanity, Christianity, civilization and the world, find themselves in the singular position of having suddenly to take the field to repel an invading force from spoiling them of their dearest rights—an invading horde, warmed into life in their peaceful pursuits in the North by the bounty of the South, have now turned upon us, and with the resources, accumulated from the indulgence and tributary commerce of the South, seek our destruction. Actuated by all the high and holy dictates of patriotism, love of home and its dearest associations, indignant at the outrages we have endured for the sake of peace, we are here at last to repel by force the desolating power at Washington.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Supporters of the Northern Claim that the war was over slavery, really have the blinders on tight. Add to the blinders, selective amnesia, with deftness and you have the perfect self righteous, we were (and are) morally superior to the South, Confederate basher! The selective amnesia / deftness come in when you mention the Slave Shipping Industry and who made huge sums of money off of it! They never mention it and don’t want to hear about it.

I guess Pilate is still washing his hands so to speak.

The inhumane conditions of the voyage from Africa seem to fade into the fog of time and all you hear about is the “Uncle Toms Cabin” Southern Slavery rhetoric !

Then add to that “The North had abolished Slavery”Well to an extent that is true, but I think they just renamed it and kept it going to a lesser degree. You could still have an “indentured” servant! And that servant being black could be kept as an indenture / males till they were 21 yo and females 18 yo/ and at anytime before they were of age to be free they could “transfer” the indenture as they pleased ( Sell them to the South)

Oh yes the wonderful moral north,

Have they ever said why the underground rail road went to Canada?

Not because of the fugitive slave act, no, no, no! It was the “Black Codes” that prohibited free blacks or run away slaves from living amongst their white saviors.

Yes a few free blacks did live in the states with Black Exclusionary laws. Very few.

What about “The Great Emancipator” didn’t he have a plan to “Colonize” the newly freed black man? Did he not favor the Superior title be assigned to the White man?His Emancipation Proclamation, left slavery intact in areas controlled by the North!You can’t get any more moral than that, can you?

What about the original 13th amendment,Offered up by the North, that would guarantee the right to own slaves "forever", and could not be revoked? Seems like somebody was selling out the black mans freedom for money! You know the deal ( just rejoin the union, pay the tariff and taxes, and we promise you the right to own slaves forever)!

If it were a case of “lets make a deal” with Abe Lincoln taking the place of Monty Hall, the south took what was behind Door # 2 !!!! They seceded !They did not try to overthrow the union but left it as provided for in the Constitution, But the Yankee propagandist of today call them traitors!

While I’m on my soap box.

The NAACP is constantly crying about all things Confederate.

A typical newspaper article will say “a flag used to honor Confederate Veterans is being protested by” -------Then a spokesperson for the NAACP will connect the Battle Flag to hate groups / slavery --------Well if the newspaper had said “ A flag used to honor the Neo-Nazis’ and KKK is being protested by the NAACP”, I would be right there with them!

But that is not what the flag is about! The Battle Flag is NOT being put beside a statue of a hooded Klansman, or Skin Head!It’s put beside a monument to Confederate soldiers, who by law are entitled to the same rights as all American Veterans!Why can’t they see the difference? I guess they just don’t want to!When it comes to Confederate bashing-

As our Yankee friends seem to have selective memories let's do a little refreshing!

Sailing out of Newport, Rhode Island the Hope was involved in bringing Africans to the United States to be sold as slaves as part of the Middle Passage, In 1765, the brig was under the command of Captain Nathaniel Mumford On March 17, 1765 a revolt occurred on the ship:

"There was a passenger revolt aboard the brigantine Hope while it was bringing slaves from the coast of Senegal and Gambia to Connecticut. How did that happen? –Well, the captain, who had beaten several of his crewmen, had been killed and his body thrown overboard, and so the black cargo, seeing such discord among their captors, figured they maybe had a chance. In their revolt they killed one crew member and wounded several others. On this day their revolt was suppressed by killing seven of them

The following year the vessel brought in 100 slaves to Rhode Island.

_____________________________________________________________

Shipping conditions for the typical Voyage

Not a Carnival Cruise ship is it?

______________________________________________________________

Captured Africans that had died in transit or were too sick for market,were thrown overboard!

_____________________________________________________

As the authorities close in the contraband cargo was thrown overboard!

Today's drug smugglers use the same practice.

______________________________________________________

Preparing the Merchandise for Showroom!

Not unlike today's' Car Dealerships

__________________________________________________________________

Yes there were inhuman practices by Southern Slave Owners as well!

But somehow our friends from up north seem to forget their role in slavery!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Anyone notice a similarity between the NY State flag and the composit picture below it?

Now then if somebody wants to protest a flag, why not protest one that has 2 slave ships, a A Nazi emblem, and The Rising sun ?

Oh I can hear it now " It's not the same flag, the Nazis and Rising Sun came after the flag wasadopted, and how do you know they are slave ships"? "You can't compare the two"

Ok! Fair enough! But the radical KKK, White NeoNazis, and other hate groups who use the battle flag as a hate tool came long after the Confederate soldier, who was defending his home from an invading army! So how can "You" connect the two?

Media story's state in essence--------

"A flag used to honor Confederate Veterans is being protested by some who say it is a flag of hate"

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

I first must acknowledge Mr. Travis Fox, and Valerie Protopapas, Travis gave a great presentation the other day, it allows me to hold on to the hope that the younger generation will not forget our heritage. Part of his presentation was provided by Valerie Protopapas, this particular part of his presentation grabbed my attention and would not let go. I will Para phrase this part of his presentation.

A child has lost something in her room and is diligently searching for it, her mother notices her efforts and asks her, “Where did you have it last”?Her child replies, as she continues to search in the toy chest by the window, “I was playing on the bed with it!” her mother asks her “so why aren’t you looking on the bed for it”? The little one says “ Mommy the light is better over here”!BINGO! I immediately recognized the scenario! Today’s PC historians are constantlystaying in the light, showing the public the bright and wonderful version of history that has been on display for the last 150 years. But what the public doesn’t know is that the historians have been standing in front of large mirrors that reflect the light into the eyes of the public and blinds them to the real truth that has been carefully hidden in the dark behind the mirrors.

Remember the scene from the Wizard of OZ? Dorothy has returned with the broomstick, the Wizard rants and raves flashing fire and lights, until little Toto notices the man behind the curtain. It is at this point the jig is up! No more need for fire and lights, the man behind the curtain has been exposed.

Well the sesquicentennial is the chance for Toto to strike again! A chance for the public to see what has been carefully hidden for so long! When you are presented with a “Fire and Lights” presentation of the WBTS, ask questions, if it’s a tour guide at a national park, or a columnist in your local paper. Ask a question: “How many slaves did the emancipation proclamation actually free”? “What were Honest Abe’s thoughts on racial equality”? “What were Black exclusionary laws”? Instead of a song and dance with nice choreography, that is well rehearsed, Let’s make em tap dance on a landmine!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

AN ORDINANCE
To Repeal the ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, by the State of Virginia, and to resume all the rights and powers granted under said Constitution:

The people of Virginia, in their ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, adopted by them in Convention, on the 25th day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eight-eight, having declared that the powers granted them under the said Constitution were derived from the people of the United States, and might be resumed whensoever the same should be perverted to their injury and oppression, and the Federal Government having perverted said powers, not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern slaveholding States.

Now, therefore, we, the people of Virginia, do declare and ordain that the Ordinance adopted by the people of this State in Convention, on the twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and all acts of the General Assembly of this State, ratifying or adopting amendments to said Constitution, are hereby repealed and abrogated; that the union between the State of Virginia and the other States under the Constitution aforesaid, is hereby dissolved, and that the State of Virginia is in the full possession and exercise of all the rights of sovereignty which belong to a free and independent State. And they do further declare that the said Constitution of the United State of America is no longer binding on any of the citizens of this State.

This Ordinance shall take effect and be an act of this day when ratified by a majority of the votes of the people of this State, cast at a poll to be taken thereon on the fourth Thursday in May next, in pursuance of a schedule hereafter to be enacted.Done in Convention, in the city of Richmond, on the seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and in the eighty-fifth year of the Commonwealth of Virginia

Saturday, April 16, 2011

If Y’all have seen my post at SHPG you might recognize this one. It deals with over educated buffoons who needlessly flaunt their academic credentials.

Need a tire ?

When I was 14 or 15 I was working at a “Service Station”That’s when an attendant would, pump your gas, check your oil, clean your windshield, and check the air in your tires.

One day I was mounting a new tire for a customer, After putting the tire on his wheel I put the tire on the bubble balance indicator, to balance his new tire.That’s when this college educated buffoon started to show me just how smart he was.

He first posed a question about why did I have to balance the tire, but before I could answer he went into an explanation about “harmonic balance”, “Centrifugal Force” and a lot of other mumbo jumbo that I was in no mood to listen to.

After his wonderful lesson in physics he stood there proud as a peacock, I guess he thought I was impressed with his dissertation! When he finally took time to inhale I told him “ Yea iffin ya don’t put the weights on the tire it’ll wobble”!

I then smiled at him, and overcharged him for mounting the tire.

All that education was totally wasted on me .I knew what I was doing and did not need his input! I guess the fact he was a Yankee from New York didn’t help him either. @#$%ing Yankees’

So before you try to impress me with your educational history, Remember the tire story! I’m gonna make ya look stupid, and yer gonna pay for it !

Thursday, April 14, 2011

History has a strange way of repeating itself. Kind of like an algebra problem; If you put together a given set of factors in sequence and you will come up with the same solution.

The United States Government had a long running policy of “Don’t ask Don’t tell” concerning gays and lesbians in military service.So by the numbers there were ZERO “documented” gays in the military!Now there were many that had been kicked out of the service, but none were statistically on active duty according to documented evidence.( Notice how that word documented keeps popping up?) But why would the US Government purposely conceal / ignore the fact that Gays were actually in the military? HMMMMMMM?

Could it be that the American public, (tax payers) were not ready to accept the fact that this was happening? So rather than upset the tax paying public Uncle Sam does a song and dance complete with smoke and mirrors to keep the public happy. That sounds reasonable doesn’t it?

Ok let’s drop back 150 years to the War for Southern Independence. Many Neo-Yankee Lincolnites’ say there is no documentation from the Confederate Government that states there were Black Confederate Soldiers.

Never mind the fact there are many Union reports of Black Confederate Soldiers the Union reports don’t fit their agenda so they are disregarded in this case.I guess you could call it “Selective Documentation Recognition”

OK back to the problem --------

The Confederate Government knew that Blacks were serving in the army but they were faced with the same problem as Uncle Sam had with gays.The Admission by the CSA Government of Blacks being in the Army would have upset the citizens of the newly formed nation. So to keep a lid on the situation (Lord knows they had enough problems to deal with at the time) the CSA basically did the same thing, “ No Blacks allowed in the Army” knowing the whole time that they were there! The public is happy with statement and the politicians could then concentrate on other matters.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Sometimes I just feel like giving up. No matter how hard I try, regardless of how much effort I put in to defending my heritage my one voice is drown out by ten others.It seems sometimes that the truth is secondary to political correctness.

Constantly being battered and refuted by scholars with all kinds of diplomas of higher education, researchers, historians, people that sit on advisory commissions and do TV and radio interviews, constantly bombarding the public with the results of their research. Their expertise, unwilling, unbending, unwavering, steadfast in the notion that only they are correct, and I am just a radical faction who doesn’t matter. I and many like me are painted as lost causers, neo-confederates who keep their Friday Night Sheets in the back of the closet. We are racist, Confederate Taliban, Flying the flag of the KKK. I get so frustrated and overwhelmed I want to say “The Hell with it let somebody else carry the colors, let someone else fight the battle, I’m sick of it”!

And then I read a story like the one about, Mr. Perry Thrasher, A Korean War Veteran who is in the VA hospital in Memphis Tennessee. Mr. Thrasher had a small confederate flag displayed in his room. His Grand Father was a Confederate Veteran. One of the staff was offended by his flag and he was forced to remove it!

Now I am offended! Here we have a man with a spinal injury who has been a long term resident at the hospital. He served his country with honor! And now one of the little pleasures he has in life has been taken away! Why? Because someone who has listened to the Historians is offended!

I’m asking for everyone’s help with this. I am sending him a post card with Robert E Lee on it and some confederate money. I am not sending anything with the battle flag. Rules are rules and the only flag allowed in the hospital is Old Glory. (So they say)

PLEASE everyone send Mr. Thrasher something Confederate, a card, a picture, anything you can think of. A picture of Lee, Jackson, President Davis, a confederate soldier or sailor. A picture of the CSS Virginia, anything you can think of. But NO FLAGS, lets play by the rules.

Don’t let Joe do it! You do it! Quit waiting for someone else to do the job. It won’t take much. A picture, an envelope and a stamp.

Monday, April 11, 2011

The other day Kevin Levin (The Master of Spin) made one of his usual absurd comments. It was about a tourist brochure that had a picture of a young boy dressed in a confederate uniform setting beneath a tree. Kevin questioned the hidden motives for choosing the picture. The boy beneath the tree was not white ! Why was it an other than white boy? What message was the brochure trying to send? Who was it aimed at?Kevin “GIVE IT A REST” !!!There wont no midget in the storm drain at the base of the Grassy Knoll in Dallas on Nov 22nd 1963 who fired the shot that killed Kennedy so quit lookin for him!

Everything is not a conspiracy !

My interpretation of the picture was a young boy who was just using his imagination! He was imagining he was a confederate soldier, the uniform was just an enhancement by the photographer to bring this point across!

The color of the Childs skin is only an issue if you wish to make it one! I don’t see any deeply conceived plot, it is just a child imagining! I guess your saying an other than white child can’t pretend to be a Confederate Soldier!

I know this is one of them waaaay around the corner things but bear with me a bit. Do you want to know why Spiderman is so popular with people of every color? By using imagination anyone of any color could put on the mask and be Spiderman. The same idea applies to the boy in the picture, can you grasp that concept?

Not everyone has your Civil War Memory! Thank God for that !

The War and its history belong to everyone, every American of every color! And just because you are one color or the other doesn’t automatically make you belong to one side or the other.

"To you, Sons of Confederate Veterans, we will commit the vindication of the cause for which we fought. To your strength will be given the defense of the Confederate soldier's good name, the guardianship of his history, the emulation of his virtues, the perpetuation of those principles which he loved and which you love also, and those ideals which made him glorious and which you also cherish."

Saturday, April 9, 2011

We started early and moved in the direction of Appomattox Courthouse. When reaching that place it was evident we could go no farther, for the enemy, cavalry, infantry and artillery, in countless thousands, were on every side. A shell comes hurtlingdown our line—another and another follow fast, and follow faster.

Just as cheerfully and just as defiantly as at Bethel, four years ago, when our hopes were big with the fate and fame of a newborn nation, do our boys go forth to meet them and our guns hurl back their shot and shell. We were but a little band standing there in the soft spring light of that Sabbath morn they were as the sands upon the seashore,or as the leaves upon the forest trees.The flag of the Army of Northern Virginia [under whose silken folds so many a gallant comrade, friend, and brother fell,] all tattered and torn but never dishonored; around staff so many happy memories cluster, is floating above us for the very last time.

The fighting ceased, and soldiers wept!

" O now forever.Farewell the tranquil mind; farewell content!Farewell the plumed troop, and the just wars.That make ambition virtue!O, farewell!Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,The spirit stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife.The Southern banner, and all quality.Pride, pomp, and circumstance of bloody war!And O, you mortal engines, whose rude throatsThe immortal Jove's dread clamors counterfeit.Farewell—Othello's occupation's gone!""Then rode adown our lines that peerless General, Robert Edward Lee—his head all bared,and his noble face all clouded with a sorrow deeper than tongue can tell or pen can paint.Is it a wonder then that strong men—men "grown old in wars"—weep like children, and tearfully turning from the, to them, saddest sight on earth, silently prepare to go back to their desolated homes ? Ah ! Neither time, or sorrow, can erase from memory's page the bitterness of that day.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

In 1861 a ringing call came to the manhood of the South. The world knows how the men of the South answered that call. Dropping everything, they came from mountains, valleys and plains— from Maryland to Texas, they eagerly crowded to the front, and stood to arms. What for? What moved them? What was in their minds?

Shallow-minded writers have tried hard to make it appear that slavery was the cause of that war; that the Southern men fought to keep their slaves. They utterly miss the point, or purposely pervert the truth. In days gone by, the theological schoolmen held hot contention over the question as to the kind of wood the Cross of Calvary was made from. In their zeal over this trivial matter, they lost sight of the great thing that did matter; the mighty transaction, and purpose displayed upon that Cross.

In the causes of that war, slavery was only a detail and an occasion. Back of that lay an immensely greater thing; the defense of their rights—the most sacred cause given men on earth, to maintain at every cost. It is the cause of humanity. Through ages it has been, pre-eminently, the cause of the Anglo-Saxon race, for which countless heroes have died. With those men it was to defend the rights of their States to control their own affairs, without dictation from anybody outside; a right not given, but guaranteed by the Constitution, which those States accepted, most distinctly, under that condition.

It was for that these men came. This was just what they had in their minds; to uphold that Solemnly guaranteed constitutional right, distinctly binding all the parties to that compact. The South pleaded with the other parties to the Constitution to observe their guarantee; when they refused, and talked of force, then the men of the South got their guns and came to see about it. They were Anglo-Saxons. What could you expect? Their fathers had fought and died on exactly this issue—they could do no less. As their noble fathers, so their noble sons pledged their lives, and their sacred honor to uphold the same great cause—peaceably if they could; forcibly if they must.

*Those Who Answered the Call

So the men of the South came together. They came from every rank and calling of life— clergymen, bishops, doctors, lawyers, statesmen, governors of states, judges, editors, merchants, mechanics, farmers. One bishop became a lieutenant general; one clergyman, chief of artillery, Army of Northern Virginia. In one artillery battalion three clergymen were Cannoneers at the guns. All the students of one Theological Seminary volunteered, and three fell in battle, and all but one were wounded. They came of every age. I personally know of six men over sixty years who volunteered, and served in the ranks, throughout the war; and in the Army of Northern Virginia, more than ten thousand men were under eighteen years of age, many of them sixteen years.They came of every social condition of life: some of them were the most prominent men in the professional, social, and political life of their States; owners of great estates, employing many slaves; and thousands of them, horny-handed sons of toil, earning their daily bread by their daily labor, who never owned a slave and never would.

There came men of every degree of intellectual equipment—some of them could hardly read, and per contra, in my battery, at the mock burial of a pet crow, there were delivered an original Greek ode, an original Latin oration, and two brilliant eulogies in English—all in honor of that crow; very high obsequies had that bird.

Men who served as Cannoneers of that same battery, in after life came to fill the highest positions of trust and influence—from governors and professors of universities, downward; and one became Speaker of the House of Representatives in the United States Congress. Also, it is to be noted that twenty-one men who served in the ranks of the Confederate Army became Bishops of the Episcopal Church after the war.

Of the men who thus gathered from all the Southern land, the first raised regiments were drawn to Virginia, and there organized into an army whose duty it was to cover Richmond, the Capital of the Confederacy—just one hundred miles from Washington, which would naturally be the center of military activities of the hostile armies.

*FROM THE RAPIDAN TO RICHMOND AND THE SPOTTSYLVANIA CAMPAIGNA Sketch in Personal Narrative of the Scenes a Soldier SawByWILLIAM MEADE DAME, D. D.Private, First Company Richmond Howitzers

I guess that this is as true of an account as you could find anyplace! Not from a politician of the era, not from a historian – 150 years after the fact! But from the man who signed or made his mark on the dotted line. The man who faced cold winters, little or no provisions, nonexistent pay, an overwhelming number of enemy soldiers; who were better armed, fed, and clothed !

It was every man of the south who simply wanted the right to choose his own Government, and set the levels of the politician’s power at an acceptable level. I noticed a passage in the book /

“When rations got short and were getting shorter, it became necessary to dismiss the darkey servants. Some, however, became company servants, instead of private institutions, and held out faithfully to the end, cooking the rations away in the rear, and at the risk of life carrying them to the line of battle to their young massahs”

Also from a different book titled -

Reminiscences of the Richmond HowitzersBy Carlton McCarthy

“A few of our negro cooks, who were with our wagon train when it was captured by the enemy, escaped and returned to camp today. Certainly they were the happiest fellows I ever saw and were greeted with loud cheers by our men. A chance at freedom they had, but they preferred life and slavery in Dixie to liberty in the North.”

With all of the conflicting views on Black Soldiers in the Confederacy, an argument that will continue as long as the sun rises and sets, somehow the efforts of the loyal black servant gets lost in the shuffle.

Ok this group of black men were not rifle carrying soldiers, but their dedication is deserving of recognition. Their courage and dedication shows where their loyalty was at.No matter how you slice it they were “Black Confederates”. No one held them at gunpoint, all they had to do was walk away, but they didn’t. So were these men slaves when they could have walked away and didn’t? I guess they were, but something other than the Massahs whip kept them in camp! Loyalty! Honor! Courage! The same attributes we give to the confederate soldier who signed on the line and defended his country.

So It was not only the free man but the servants themselves who opposed the onslaught of the north.

I have a letter from another member of the Richmond Howitzers

William Henry Tatum, my Great Uncle, it says in part------

"When I volunteered I really did not know how a long a time it was for, and in fact did not care. I am, with the other 12 month volunteers . Called upon to reenlist in accordance with an act of congress Dec 11 1861, and I am called on to decide what I shall do, before we are mustered out of service.

I think that with everybody else, that the period will be the most critical one in our history, our enemy are perfectly aware of the straight in which we are placed and will certainly endeavor to take advantage of it.

Now what is my duty, to go home and leave our defense to undisciplined militia who will make a sorry fight at best, leaving it in the range of probability that the Northern hessians will overrun our state before the summer is over and bringing ruin on all of us? Or stay in the field, determined to see the end of this business before we give it up.

I might say to myself I am only one, I will not be missed, but ought we allow such selfish considerations to govern us, our whole army is made up of individuals, and suppose each was to say the same thing"?

a powerful statement! It says a lot about my ancestor and about the Confederate soldier as well.

Again from William Meade Dane

The Confederate Heart

" The heart is greater than the mind. No man can exactly define the cause for which the Confederate soldier fought. He was above human reason and above human law, secure in his own rectitude of purpose, accountable to God only, having assumed for himself a nationality which he was minded to defend with his life and his property, andthere to pledged his sacred honor. In the honesty and simplicity of his heart, the Confederate soldier had neglected his own interests and rights, until his accumulated wrongs and indignities forced him to one grand, prolonged effort to free himself from the pain of them. He dared not refuse to hear the call to arms, so plain was the duty and so urgent the call. His brethren and friends were answering the bugle-call and the roll of the drum. To stay was dishonor and shame"!

So who was the Confederate soldier

He was a man of every color, every income range, every religion, a man who was highly educated or had no education at all. A farmer, a lawyer, a politician, a store clerk, a blacksmith, a ship captain, a dock worker, a military man, a civilian, a slave , a slave owner, a native American, A Doctor, He was every man who resisted the despotic Government of Abe Lincoln; and all had one thing in common, they were Southerners! Men to whom Honor was more than an idea, it was a way of life.Men of courage, outnumbered, without supplies’, Men who when the enemy had repeating rifles and endless amounts of ammunition , stood their ground and threw rocks at the invaders. Men who at Appomattox upon General Lee’s return from the surrender told the general,

Monday, April 4, 2011

In 1861 a ringing call came to the manhood of the South. The world knows how the men of the South answered that call. Dropping everything, they came from mountains, valleys and plains— from Maryland to Texas, they eagerly crowded to the front, and stood to arms. What for? What moved them? What was in their minds? Shallow-minded writers have tried hard to make it appear that slavery was the cause of that war; that the Southern men fought to keep their slaves. They utterly miss the point, or purposely pervert the truth. In days gone by, the theological schoolmen held hot contention over the question as to the kind of wood the Cross of Calvary was made from. In their zeal over this trivial matter, they lost sight of the great thing that did matter; the mighty transaction, and purpose displayed upon that Cross. In the causes of that war, slavery was only a detail and an occasion. Back of that lay an immensely greater thing; the defense of their rights—the most sacred cause given men on earth, to maintain at every cost. It is the cause of humanity.

Through ages it has been, pre-eminently, the cause of the Anglo-Saxon race, for which countless heroes have died. With those men it was to defend the rights of their States to control their own affairs, without dictation from anybody outside; a right not given, but guaranteed by the Constitution, which those States accepted, most distinctly, under that condition. It was for that these men came. This was just what they had in their minds; to uphold that Solemnly guaranteed constitutional right, distinctly binding all the parties to that compact. The South pleaded with the other parties to the Constitution to observe their guarantee; when they refused, and talked of force, then the men of the South got their guns and came to see about it.

They were Anglo-Saxons. What could you expect? Their fathers had fought and died on exactly this issue—they could do no less. As their noble fathers, so their noble sons pledged their lives, and their sacred honor to uphold the same great cause—peaceably if they could; forcibly if they must.

(So this is it, this is how a combatant who was in the war viewed it. Not an assumption made by a historian some 150 after the fact! )

Friday, April 1, 2011

We have all read the stories of bloody battles, and the brave men who gave all they had for their country. But the story below exemplifies what it is to “give all you have” in another way. It’s not on a battle field, no cannons firing, No men yelling in pain. No one dying in agony! It’s just two men having dinner, it’s a wonderful story, I hope you enjoy.

A Fresh Egg

By Carlton McCarthy

Another incident, that I can vouch for, showing the strenuous time the whole army had about food that winter: One day Major-Quartermaster John Ludlow, of Norfolk, met a Captain of Artillery from his own town of Norfolk—Capt. Charles Grandy, of the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues. The Major invited the Captain to dine with him on a certain day. He did not expect anything very much, but there was a seductive sound in the word “dining” and he accepted. Grandy told the story of his experience on that festive occasion.

He walked two miles to Major Ludlow’s quarters, and was met with friendly cordiality by his old fellow-townsman, and ushered into his hut where a bright fire was burning. After a time spent in conversation, the Major began to prepare for dinner. He reached up on a shelf, and took down a cake of bread, cut it into two pieces, and put them in a frying pan on the fire to heat. Then he reached up on the shelf and got down a piece of bacon—not very large—cut it into two pieces, and put them in another pan on the fire to fry. Down in the ashes by the fire was a tin cup covered over—its contents not visible.

The dining table was an old door, taken from some barn and set up on skids. When the bread and meat were ready, the Major put it on the table and with a courtly wave of his hand said, “D-d-draw up, Charley.” They seated themselves. The Major gave a piece of bread and a piece of bacon to his guest, and took the other piece, of each, for himself. After he had eaten a while—the Major got up, went to the fireplace and took up the tin cup. He poured off the water, and, behold, one egg came to view. This egg, the Major put on a plate and, coming to the table, handed it to Grandy—“Ch-Ch-Charley, take an egg,” as if there were a dish full. Charley, having been brought up to think it not good manners to take the last thing on the dish, declined to take the only egg in sight—said he didn’t care specially for eggs! though he said he would have given a heap for that egg, as he hadn’t tasted one since he had been in the army. “But,” urged the Major, “Ch-Ch-Charley, I insist that you take an egg. You must take one—there is going to be plenty—do take it.” Under this encouragement, Grandy took the egg

While he was greatly enjoying it, suddenly there was a flutter in the corner of the hut. An old hen flew up from behind a box in the corner, lit on the side of the box and began to cackle loudly. The Major turned to Grandy and said, “I-I t-t-told you there was going to be a plenty. I invited you to dinner today because this was the day for the hen to lay.” He went over and got the fresh egg from behind the box, cooked and ate it. So each of the diners had an egg.

The incident was suggestive of the situation. Here was a Quartermaster appointing a day for dining a friend— depending for part of the feast on his confidence that his hen would come to time. The picture of that formal dinner in the winter quarters on the Rapidan is worth drawing. It was a fair sign of the times, and of life in the Army of Northern Virginia; when it came to a Quartermaster giving to an honored, and specially invited guest, a dinner like that—it indicates a general scarceness.